Dignard, Falcone Earn ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Honors

Tom Dignard and Johnathan Falcone. (photos by David Silverman, dspics.com)

May 20, 2010

Ice Hockey, Lacrosse Player Honored for Work in the
Classroom

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Two Yale
student-athletes who led their teams to Ivy League titles this year
-- senior defenseman Tom Dignard (Reading, Mass.)
of the ice hockey team and junior goalie Johnathan Falcone
(Flemington, N.J.) of the lacrosse team
-- were named ESPN The Magazine Academic
All-District 1 men’s at-large selections on Thursday. Dignard
was a first-team selection and is now eligible for ESPN The
Magazine Academic All-America honors, which will be announced next
month. Falcone was a second-team selection.

Dignard, a second-team collegehockey247.com All-American, helped
Yale to an ECAC Hockey championship and an Ivy League championship
for the second straight season. The Bulldogs also made their second
straight NCAA Tournament appearance and picked up their first NCAA
Tournament win in 58 years, 3-2 over North Dakota in the Northeast
Regional. The Elis were 21-10-3 overall and were ranked No. 6 in
the country in the final USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

Dignard was fourth in the NCAA in points per game among
defensemen (six goals, 21 assists in 29 games) this past season. In
addition to his All-America honors, he was also first-team All-New
England and All-Ivy League. He was a second-team All-ECAC Hockey
selection in each of the past two years, and was honorable mention
All-Ivy in 2008-09. He also won the Yale’s men’s hockey
team’s John Poinier Award as the Bulldogs’ top
defenseman.

Dignard, who finished his career with 19 goals and 57 assists in
115 games, has also received numerous academic honors. He was an
Academic All-Ivy League selection this past winter, and was an ECAC
Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year finalist in 2008-09 and nominee
in 2009-10. He will earn his fourth ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team
selection this year. Dignard also was the recipient of the Yale
men’s hockey team’s Edward M. Wright, M.D. Award this
year as the team’s top scholar-athlete.

An economics and mathematics major in Branford College, Dignard
is a graduate of Andover Academy.

Falcone helped Yale to a share of the Ivy League title, a spot
in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament and a 10-4 overall record.
The Bulldogs were ranked as high as No. 13 in the USILA poll and
are currently No. 18. Falcone anchored a defense that allowed just
8.57 goals per game, placing the Bulldogs 11th in the
country in scoring defense in the latest national rankings.

Falcone was an honorable mention All-Ivy League selection this
past season, going 10-4 overall (4-2 in the Ivy League) with a .502
save percentage. His 8.54 goals-against average leads the league
and is 11th in Division I. It was also an improvement of nearly
three goals per game over his GAA from a year ago.

Falcone had double-digit saves in four of the last eight games,
including a season-high of 15 saves at Dartmouth. He held opponents
to single digits in goals in six of the last seven games. That
included a 7-6 win over archrival Harvard in the regular season
finale at Reese Stadium, a win that gave Yale a share of the Ivy
title and a spot in the Ivy Tournament.

An economics major in Calhoun College, Falcone is a Hunterdon
Central Regional graduate.

Academic All-District voting is done by the members of College
Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). There are eight
districts throughout the country, with 12 first-team and 10
second-team honorees in District 1 this year. Members of the first
team in each district are eligible for ESPN The Magazine Academic
All-America honors, which will be announced on June 8.

The at-large ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program
includes up to three nominees per school across 12 different men's
NCAA sports (fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse,
rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and
wrestling).